Walking Into Darkness
by 23a
Summary: AU, no curse-but there is a little girl who has a strange relationship with dreams, and her name is Princess Emma. And her power might come in handy on her 15th birthday.
1. The Dream

_She woke up, screaming. Her Mommy and Daddy ran into her room, with the big pink canopy bed and the pictures of unicorns. _

_"It's okay, Emma, it was just a nightmare." _

_"You promise?"_

_"Yes, Emma, we promise." _

_"So it couldn't happen in real life?"_

_"No, Emma, it was just a bad dream." _

_Emma smiled. "Ok." _

* * *

_It happened again, every night, and every night the same thing - her mommy and daddy told her it was okay, it was nothing more than a dream.  
_

_For years it was that way. Eventually they stopped telling her, she just knew. But she still had them. Until she was 13. Then the dreams just stopped. _

_"Emma?", her mother asked in the morning. "No nightmare?"_

_"No, mom, no nightmare." _

_Snow frowned. "What did you dream about?" _

_"Nothing", Emma replied. "It was just... darkness." _

_"Really?", Snow asked, perplexed. _

_"Really", Emma answered. "Guess I finally grew up." _

* * *

Now it was Emma's 15th birthday. The nightmares had been over for two years, and nobody even talked about them anymore. But she still thought about them. Her brother Neal hadn't had the nightmares. Neither had her parents as kids. It was all Emma's thing. So was the darkness. She was celebrating her birthday dinner with her parents and Neal when the air around them seemed to grow colder. Suddenly, they all froze - literally froze. They were ice-cold, and not moving one bit. A chilling voice rang through the castle. "What do you do, little Emma? What can you do? Go on, you shouldn't be alone on your birthday. Freeze with them. You're a special girl, Emma. You get to chose. So choose wisely. Better to freeze than see what's next." The voice went away like a gust of wind, and it was silent. And suddenly, somehow, Emma knew exactly what to do. She found a relatively soft part of the floor and lay down.

"Take me to the darkness", she said, and closed her eyes.


	2. Visitor in the Night

Eventually - pretty quickly, actually - the darkness was gone. She was amongst trees, perhaps on some tropical island. It was night. Frowning, she began to walk. After what seemed like a while, but in reality could have been seconds, she stumbled upon a cave. She went inside it, and suddenly there was a noise. A light came on, and a boy was pointing a sword at her.

"Oh", he said. "You're not a lost boy."

"...No, I'm Emma."

"Hi Emma. I'm Bae. Why are you here?"

"Saw a jungle, walked, found a cave, went in. Why should I tell you, anyway? You're not real."

"Of course I am!"

"No you're not! This is my dream!"

"Oh, you're one of the kids who visit in their dreams. Well, Emma the dreamer, welcome to Neverland."

"Thanks. Do you know how I can save my family?"

"From what?"

"I don't know. But they're weirdly frozen."

"Nope. Sorry dream girl. Good luck."

"Can you at least tell me how to get out of Neverland?"

"Wake up."

"I can't. The answer is somewhere in my dreams."

"Then... I don't know. Dream off? I can't leave, I'm really here, and stuck, so I can't exactly help you."

Emma began to concentrate on leaving, and the image began to fade. "I'm going!", she said. "Bye Bae! I'll come back and get you out once I save them!"

"Bye dream girl", he said. "And I doubt you will. But good luck with your family."

And then it was back to the darkness.


	3. Advice From You?

The next place Emma found herself appeared to be a castle, but made of dark black stone rather than light like her home. Inside there was nobody, and she walked nervously until she found a chair - a throne? - with what appeared to be the castle's only occupant in it. The woman had long dark hair and was wearing a black dress.

"He - hello?", Emma said.

The woman made a face. "Little girl. So this is what Snow White and that stupid prince of her managed to produce."

"Hey!"

"Shut up, would you?"

"What's your name? And how can you speak to a future queen that way?"

"My name, child, is Regina. And I'll speak to you how I like."

"Re - Regina? My parents told me about you."

"Yes, I'm sure little Snow sang my praises", she said sarcastically. "Anyway, it takes a lot of energy to summon you here, even in dream form, so don't waste my time."

"Don't worry, I'm leaving."

Regina rolled her eyes. "Well not _yet. _I have some advice for you."

"Really?", Emma asked skeptically. "Why would you help me? Or my family?"

"Well... we have, how to put this, a common enemy. So I want to help you stop this person. To get help, you'll need to talk to Rumpelstiltskin. He shouldn't be hard to find."

"Rumpelstiltskin? The dark sorcerer?"

"The very same. Trust me, he'll help."

"Okay... Thank you, Regina."

The image began to fade, and Emma found herself in the darkness once more.


	4. Conversations With a Dark Sorcerer

It was dark. She was in some sort of tunnel. The only lights were torches on the wall. It was hard to see, but at the end she just made out a jail cell. She walked up to it.

"Rumpelstiltskin?"

"Emma. What a pleasure to see you."

"How do you know my name."

"Your mother gave it to me."

"Ok..."

"Anyway, why are you here, child?"

"I need your help. Regina sent me here."

"You went to Regina?"

"She summoned me."

"Her magic isn't strong enough for that!"

"It is enough to bring me in dream form."

"You're dreaming?"

"Yes. Anyway, Regina said we have a common enemy that you could help us defeat. This enemy froze my family, but was unable to freeze me and gave me a choice."

"Well any practitioner of magic can freeze people. Although if they couldn't freeze you, and you have the power to walk through dreams, that would suggest that this person is something related to dreams. And Regina and your family are both enemies of this person..."

He turned pale. "Wake up child. Wake up now."

"What? But, I need to save my family."

"You don't want to mess with this, trust me Emma. Leave it be."

"No. I will save them. Alone, if I must."

He sighed. "Your determination is admirable. But I can't help you with this."

"Please?"

He sighed again. "Fine. But do what I say. Exactly."


	5. Instructions

"Alright," said Rumpelstiltskin. "The enemy I believe you are facing is a very, very dangerous woman who calls herself "The Queen of Dreams." She spent years trying to learn how to control the dream world. She and Regina have had an animosity for years."

"So how do I fight her?" Emma asked.

"Fight her? There'll be none of that. You asked me to help you save your family from her. No fighting involved."

"Alright."

"First, I must assess the strength of your power over the dream world. How many people have you already visited?"

"Including you and Regina? Three."

"Who was the third?"

"Actually, he was the first. It was a boy named Bae."

His eyes widened and he stared at her for a second. "Bae? You're quite sure of that?"

She nodded. "Stuck in some place called Neverland. He called me" - she giggled - "He called me 'dream girl.' I promised him I would come back and free him."

"Bae..."

"You know him?"

He shook his head. "A matter for another time. Regardless. To save your family, you must brew a potion."

"A potion?"

"Yes. The instructions are very specific. If you work correctly, you can brew it in your dreams. Once you wake up, it's all over."

"How do I make it?"

"Listen closely."


	6. Marketplace of Dreams

Frowning, Emma wondered how on earth she was to find all the ingredients she was meant to find and brew a potion when all she had was her dreams. So far, Rumpelstiltskin was the only one she had found intentionally, and it had to be easier to find a person than an object. She needed a way to find these things. How could she, though? She could speak to people, but where could she actually receive things? She could only visit places, as a sort of apparition... unless... what had Rumpelstiltskin said about the Queen of Dreams? She was trying to control the dream world. _The dream world. _There was a whole world, built on dreams... perhaps a place where items could be bought... like a marketplace! A marketplace of dreams... that was ridiculous. And yet, it was her only hope. _I need to go to the marketplace, _she said in her mind. Around her, colors swirled, and then were replaced by blackness. Then there was a flash of bright white light, and suddenly she was lying down on stones. _I must be in the dream world now... maybe the marketplace? Please let it be the marketplace. _

She glanced up. There was a small alley in front of her leading to a large open area full of booths of all sorts, with people milling about. She had found it. She had found the dream marketplace. Now all she had to do was find all the ingredients she needed.

"Hello," she said, approaching one vendor.

"Hi," the man said with a frown. "What's a young girl like yourself doing here?"

"I need to find some things to brew a potion."

"Well this is a food stand, you'll want somewhere else. But how is someone as young as you able to control the dream world?"

Emma shrugged. "I've had the power my whole life. I just figured out how it worked."

"An anomaly," he said, eyes wide. "Good luck brewing your potion."

"Thank you," said Emma, and walked off.

After searching for what seemed like hours, but was probably a few minutes-time worked very strangely in here-she found an old woman at a booth with many strange objects. "Excuse me?" said Emma.

The woman looked at her. "You're a bit young to be here."

"I've heard that. I'm looking for ingredients to brew a potion."

"Well, you're in the right place. What do you need?"

After another hour or so and several stands, Emma had all but one ingredient-the tears of a child. An odd ingredient, she knew, but not hard to get. She went over to a food stand. "Hello," she said.

"Hi."

"Could I have an onion, please?"

"Sure."

She bought the onion and walked away, opening it. As soon as she started to cry, she collected the tears in a vial. Then she said, _I need to go somewhere where I can brew this potion in private, _and the marketplace faded away.


	7. Morning Time

Where had she gotten the money from? Had she just dreamed it into existence? The dream world was so strange. Whatever. It didn't matter. She brewed the potion carefully, following the instructions exactly. She had to get this perfect if she was going to save her family. When she had finally gotten what she figured must be the proper potion, she suddenly had a thought: She didn't know what to do with this potion, but once she woke up, she wouldn't have it anymore, so it couldn't be used on her family. She had to see Rumpelstiltskin again.

* * *

"You're back."

"I brewed the potion." She showed him the vial. "What do I do with it?"

"It should wake up your family if you give it to them."

"But it will disappear if I wake up!"

"Well, obviously you have to give it to them while dreaming."

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"Travel to your castle. While dreaming."

"Will that work?"

"If you're very good at controlling your dreams."

"I have no practice."

"Well, you'd better try."

"I still don't understand why Regina would help me with this."

"Presumably, she figured you would destroy the Queen of Dreams. She'll be quite angry you didn't."

"Oh. Well, I don't really care about that."

"Good. Go on, then. Good luck, princess."

* * *

She walked through the castle, seeing the hallways just as they were in waking. In the room they had had the party in, there they all were, frozen... and there was Emma, asleep on the ground. That was so odd... Taking the potion, she gently poured a sip into Neal's mouth first. There was a pause, and then the stone started turning back into him. She smiled and gave the potion to her parents.

"That was odd," her mother said.

"Why is Emma sleeping?" her father asked, gesturing over to her.

Neal just shrugged and continued eating his cake.

"Ok," Emma said, "Time to wake up."

* * *

She blinked open her eyes and smiled seeing her family. "You're alright!"

"Yes, we're alright," her mother said with a smile.

"Dreams are a funny thing, you know," Emma said.

* * *

That night after she went to sleep, Emma went back to Neverland.

"Baelfire?"

"Emma!"

"Hi."

"Hey... you came back."

"Yeah. But I don't know how to free you."

"That's okay, I'm getting out."

"Really?"

"Yeah, Pan said something about my future value to him... anyway, he's letting me go. I'll be back in the Enchanted Forest soon enough."

"Well, come find me, Bae."

"Sure, dream girl. Where do I do that?"

"In my castle."

"Castle?"

"I'm a princess. My parents are Snow White and Prince Charming. I think you'll be able to find us."

"I guess I will. See you, dream girl."

"See you, dream boy."

She smiled, and when she woke up, the rays of the sun shone on her face. It was morning.

**A/N: That's all, folks! **


End file.
